Enrollment – Steve stated
that enrollment is at 5,520; 7% increase over last fall

Graduate enrollment –
Nikki stated that applications were up 14.8%, new
student enrollment is up 30.9%.Current graduate enrollment stands at 699 and is a 12.9% increase
over last fall.

Budget – no new news;
revenues have been up the last few months.We’ll begin our year with a 4% cut; 6 and 8% scenarios were
submitted to the System Office to be used if necessary.

Regents – Good news – the
Board of Regents approved our request for exemption on the Regents Test.

Core Curriculum – Alan
talked briefly about the proposed changes to our core which will be going
to the Undergraduate Curriculum Committee tomorrow.Gabrielli will be attending a
core-curriculum workshop and will share our plan.So far no major issues except with
transfer students.

Advisor Training – Dawn
stated that the slots for advisor training are filling up and that 80 have
registered or completed the training.It was asked if staff should sign up.Becky stated that staff should not be
advising per SACS.Interested staff
may attend the training planned for part-time faculty since it covers only
topics such as campus resources and not academic advising.Becky also stated that our follow-up to
SACS was turned in last week.Bob
Homer and Becky Rutherfoord will be attending the annual SACS meeting in
December and reminded everyone to keep current for our mini self study and
five-year report.

ATTIC – move is completed
and they are open for business.Tom
Currin is chairing the search committee for the three professional
academic advisors.

Architecture – has an
exhibition going on until October 1 and Ameen Farooq encouraged everyone
to come by and see what the students are doing.

International Programs –
Rich Bennett announced plans to expand agreements with the Republic of
Georgia, Malaysia, and India over the next 12-15 months.A speaker series is also planned for
campus.An author on the Vietnam
War will speak on Wednesday at noon; P.K. Fokam, President of the Afriland
First Bank and President of P.K. Fokam University will be speaking in
October.Rich also mentioned that
we have a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence, Dr. Eszter Simon.Szafran stated that SPSU supports
faculty on Fulbright’s, etc. and will continue faculty members’ salaries
during their stay as long as their department agrees and can hire
part-time faculty to carry their teaching load.Tom Rotnem was our first Fulbright
Scholar followed this year by Omar Zia.

Physics program has moved
to building H on the 2nd floor.The old BCP office will become the Biology & Chemistry programs
office.

Khalid suggested that with
all of the moves we need an updated business directory.

Graduation – numbers for
fall are high enough to need two graduation ceremonies again and they will
be same as last time with the first at 10:00 AM and the second at 2:00 P.M.Lunch will be provided for faculty who
attend both ceremonies.More
information will be forthcoming.

Early Warning grades are
due Monday.Student and Enrollment
Services will follow up with students listed as not engaged.Szafran reminded the Council to make
sure that all of their faculty submit entries on time and that they make
sure they are entered accurately and that there will be harsh punishment
for those who do not comply.Szafran also reminded the department chairs and program
coordinators to submit to their deans how their faculty are making up
their workload including release time and reason for release.

Item 2. Start Up Issues

Szafran
asked if there were any start-up issues this semester that he should be aware
of and received the following comments:

Bldg. H continues to have
air conditioning problems.Dr.
Szafran stated that Robert Forbes is aware of the problem and that the HVAC
system will be upgraded in the near future.

Need more time between
Phase III and the first day of classes.Steve has adjusted this for spring semester.

Phil Patterson asked for
more advance warning that the schedule is due.Steve stated that he sends out email
announcing that the system is open and includes the due date for input.

Can we reduce the number
of phases for registration from three to two?Steve stated that it can be done but we
have three phases to accommodate all student categories and that changing
it would be very complicated.

Item 3.Paper Free Process

Szafran
announced that he and Ron Koger will be looking at
document imaging systems for the campus to help reduce paper on campus.He had hoped that changing the reappointment
process would help eliminate excess paper but not all departments took
advantage of the new process and many of the packets that were submitted were
extremely thick.He asked the Council
for any concerns they may have in moving in the direction of document
imaging.Security and access to
documents for individuals outside campus were the only ones. Han Reichgelt is
working on outcomes for a document imaging system before we decide to purchase
one.Any additional concerns should be
sent to Dr. Szafran.

Item 4.Faculty Evaluation

The
Deans Council voted recently to request the Faculty Senate establish an ad hoc committee to review the
instrument used to evaluate faculty each semester and generate an evaluation
form that can be used online.Currently,
the SIRs II form we are using is costly, the results
are often not back in time for inclusion in faculty reappointment packets,
etc., and many times unusable due to student errors.Szafran distributed the draft submitted to
Pam Frinzi and asked for feedback.Compliance by students seemed to be the only concern so Dr. Szafran
assured the Council that steps will be taken to assure students complete the
evaluation.Further, Bob Homer talked
about the software that could be used and that it is extremely versatile and
flexible.Pam will put this on the
Faculty Senate agenda for pilot implementation in Spring Semester, 2011.

Item 5.Academic Integrity Draft
Policy

Dr.
Szafran announced that the Academic Integrity draft policy is almost complete
and includes guidelines for faculty as well.He distributed the policy and asked for comments from the ALC.After a brief discussion on a couple of
concerns, Szafran asked the Council to send issues or comments to him.Once implemented, the committee will monitor
the policy and make any adjustments necessary before creating a permanent
policy and procedure.Szafran stated
that the committee meets every other Friday and all are welcome to attend or
send email concerns to him or any committee member.